Lyft Product Manager (PM) Interview Guide
Learn how to prepare for the Lyft Product Manager interview and get a job at Lyft with this in-depth guide.Preparing for the Lyft product manager interview? Be sure to read our guide on the interview stages and types of questions before the interview.
Lyft is one of the hottest tech companies and growing rapidly, so product managers at Lyft have the opportunity to work with a variety of complex, highly technical systems that have immediate and radical impact to millions around the world.
Learn more about how to ace the Lyft PM interview in the next few pages of this guide.
Interview Process
Typically, there are four stages to product manager interviews at Lyft: recruiter screen, phone screens, on-site, and team matching.
Recruiter Screen
The recruiter phone screen is fairly straightforward and consists mostly of questions based on your resume and fit for the product manager role. The recruiter may ask about your interests, your past experiences, and why you want to work at Lyft. During this call, the recruiter can answer any questions you have about the interview process.
The recruiter will also discuss which role in Lyft is optimal for your background, and help you pre-select a role to apply for. That said, all interviews at Lyft are generically conducted, meaning you can use the result from an interview to apply for any role in the company during the team matching phase (discussed later in this guide).
No need to prepare much for this one! Review your resume to speak from it, and be sure to research a bit more about Lyft, like their company mission.
Product and Execution Phone Screens
You'll have two additional phone screens before your on-site interview with Lyft.
One interview will focus on product questions while the other interview will focus on execution-style interview questions. These interviews will be similar to the ones in your on-site interview loop, and we'll discuss the different types of questions in the next section.
Between the phone screen and the on-site, the process usually takes about two weeks.
On-site
The onsite Lyft PM interview consists of three rounds:
- Product Sense
- Product Execution
- Leadership and Experience (behavioral)
It usually takes about one week to a final decision from the on-site interview.
More on how to solve these problems in the next section of this guide.
Team Matching
If you make it past the on-site interview, they'll match you with potential teams where you'll have exploratory calls with the managers on those teams. These future conversations are less like interviews and more like conversations, where you can get to know the team and determine mutual fit for the role.
Sample Interview Questions
Lyft's interview types are modeled after Facebook's PM interview categories, so be sure to check out that guide as well. Generally, you'll see three types of questions: product sense, execution, and behavioral.
Product Sense Questions
This interview focuses on your product knowledge, creativity, instincts, and awareness.
Questions could focus on a product that you feel is a great product, why it’s a great product, and what you’d do if you were a PM or the CEO of that company. Other questions that could come up in this interview are looking at an existing Lyft Product and figuring out how you’d evolve it. Your interviewer will be able to give you guidance along the way, although they will expect you to lead the conversation. In this interview it’s very important to have a structure in your thought process and to be able to revert back to your original idea / goal.
Here is a list of product sense questions recently asked.
While we have a full guide to product design questions in our course, one tip for these questions is to always mention tradeoffs.
Execution Questions
This is a very analytical, metric- and KPI-focused interview. Lyft is a deeply data-driven company and they expect product managers to be able to look at data to make decisions.
In your execution interview, Lyft will ask questions about how you identify and prioritize opportunities, and execute against them to build products. This interview will focus on how you analyze a set of constraints and problems to come up with the right set of metrics to measure success. Lyft will also ask how you adapt your plans and troubleshoot problems with new information and changing circumstances.
Here is a list of execution interview questions recently asked.
The key to success in these interviews is starting at a high-level with the goals of the product, and then drilling deeper into actions and metrics. We recommend employing the GAME framework for key metrics questions, as demonstrated in this PM lesson.
For role-play execution-style questions, we recommend getting a mock interview partner in our Slack Channel and testing yourself. Generally, the biggest tips here are to structure your thinking aloud, and state all assumptions you make as you go through the problem. Check out a sample role play execution mock interview video to get a sense of how they work.
Leadership and Behavioral Questions
Being relaxed, calm, and confident is the key to success in these interviews. However, there are definitely parts of this interview you can prepare for. For instance, create a story bank of experiences that you can use in the interviews, and practice some of these questions with a practice partner in our Slack Channel to get more confident and comfortable.
As you answer your interviewer’s questions, ask yourself if your responses include examples that show how you:
- Demonstrate initiative.
- Exhibit introspection and self-awareness.
- Can be open about your failures and talk through examples of what you’ve learned from them.
- Lead and support a team, including conflict management.
- Are passionate about what you’ve done.
Our most important tip? Don't interview without deeply understanding Lyft's values.
Try practicing with our question bank of behavioral PM interview questions.
Tips and Tricks
Here are some important details to remember when interviewing for Lyft:
- Lyft is a three-sided marketplace, with drivers, consumers, and content providers (e.g. restaurants). Each user has a unique set of needs and pain points, and it's worth calling out the nuances of this marketplace and each user segment in your interview.
- Lyft is growing as a company and needs to diversify its revenue streams. Do some brainstorming on how Lyft might expand in this market and grow to compete with companies like DoorDash and Instacart.
- COVID-19 has greatly impacted Lyft and how Lyft operates - how can Lyft consider product changes to adapt to the changing ecosystem?
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